United we stand - don't knock us

WEST Reading is united in its fight against crime and will not tolerate gangs on its streets.

That is the message from one of the area’s top police officers who is helping the Oxford Road community pull together after the tragic killing of 16-year-old Mary Ann Leneghan.

Today Community Inspector Dave Griffiths vows to fight the criminal gangs and hits out at those who have branded the area a hellhole.

In a full-page article for the Post today, he writes: “West Reading people are angry and will not tolerate threats to their community.”

The drive against crime has seen seven anti-social behaviour orders handed out to sex workers and several crack houses shut down. Traders, workers and householders have united in one voice behind Inspector Griffiths and stressed Oxford Road is not alone in its problems.But they believe the community is unique in the way its people have strived to solve the issues it faces.

Paddy Costall, director of services for the Berkshire Community Drug Agency, said: “Oxford Road is not a drug den.

“Obviously, there are problems but I don’t think it’s any worse any other urban area – it’s just that this tragic event has highlighted them.

“I know people have concerns but we are doing something.”

Grocer Kishor Gehlot, whose family has traded peacefully in the Oxford Road for more than a quarter of a century, told the doom mongers to “have a look at other towns before you start putting down my home”.

“Tell them to have a look at London, at Bristol, at Brighton,” he said. “Wherever they go they will find roads just like the Oxford Road.”

Battle ward councillor Tony Jones, who has spearheaded the fight to clean up the Oxford Road in the past two years, said: “While the sad events of the past week have made us all look again at the challenges our town faces, I was disgusted to read some national newspaper describing Reading as ‘a terrified town still in the grip of gang war’.

“In the past year we have seen the closing down of crac houses and ASBOs against street workers and kerb crawlers. This pressure must be kept up, but we also have to keep all these matters in a realistic context.”